Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a global shift to a "New Normal" lifestyle, impacting personal habits and business operations across various industries.

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered daily life, necessitating a shift to what is being termed the "New Normal." This new way of living involves adapting personal habits such as increased hand hygiene, social distancing, and reduced physical contact. Businesses worldwide have been compelled to innovate and adapt to survive the drastic changes in consumer behavior. The hospitality, travel, dining, and retail sectors have experienced significant declines, leading to pivotal changes such as online campaigns, vacuum-sealed food products, enhanced food delivery services, and modified buffet practices. Traditional payment methods are being replaced by contactless transactions, with a notable increase in EFTPOS usage. Online and e-commerce businesses, including streaming services like Netflix and gaming platforms like Twitch, have seen substantial growth as people spend more time at home. The article underscores the necessity for both individuals and businesses to continue adapting to these changes, which are likely to become permanent fixtures in the post-pandemic world.

Opinions

The author suggests that the "New Normal" is not a return to pre-pandemic routines but an adaptation to new health and safety measures.
The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital solutions, particularly in the entertainment and retail sectors.
The author implies that businesses must embrace innovation and digital transformation to remain viable in the changing market landscape.
There is an expectation that cash transactions will decline due to hygiene concerns, with contactless payments becoming the preferred method.
The author believes that the rise in online and e-commerce businesses is outpacing traditional business models, a trend that is likely to continue.
The article conveys optimism about the potential for individuals and businesses to adapt to the new circumstances, suggesting a positive outlook on the future despite the ongoing uncertainties.

Living Under “The New Normal”

A new lifestyle that changes the world forever.

The COVID-19 situation has changed our ways of life. Staying at home and being productive is part of the normality. Luckily, most worldwide cases have dramatically decreased and each countries starting to ease their lockdown laws. People can start celebrating, as their normal routine resume.

But wait!

Living life normally doesn’t mean that we’re back to our old routine.

More to that, we have to adapt to the “New Normal” lifestyle.

So, what is the “New Normal”? Some of you may heard it millions of time. The best way to explain it is by a quote that you might hear in a biology class.

All organisms need to adapt to their habitat to be able to survive.

As we try to survive from this horrible pandemic, we are adjusting and adapting ourself into a new habit.

If you just recently wash your hands for 20 seconds, keeping social distance for 1.5 metres and preventing handshakes, you are already part of the “New Normal” lifestyle.

It’s not just a matter of lifestyle. Businesses around the world had impacted with the current situation as well. Hospitality, travel industry, restaurants retail and shopping centres are some of the examples that experienced a massive decline in their business. For these businesses to survive, they also need to adapt to their environment. Likewise,

Hotels around the world started to do online campaigns and movement. Accor for instance, one of the largest hotel chains in the world introduced a campaign called #ALLAtHome. It’s a type of online entertainment to entertain and engage its customers and members from their home. Through Accor’s social media platform, they showcase various things, such as workouts from a personal trainer, live DJ set and cooking masterclass. Since Accor introduced its new lifestyle program ALL, they are focusing to maintain a healthier lifestyle and work-life balance.

Restaurants around the world also introduce a new product as well, such as vacuum-sealed product, as people rarely dine-in these days and more into home dining. With simple and attractive packaging, restaurants are able to elevate the dining experience, yet serves high-quality food.

Not only that, food deliveries and takeaways are also becoming more popular. We are not supposed to be surprised if one day there’s only empty seats and tables in the restaurant.

Buffet and all you can eat restaurants also changed drastically in the way they’re serving food. Like most restaurants in Japan, customers are required to put gloves before using the utensils to collect the food. And to maintain its hygiene, the food was covered by a plastic shield. Tables and cutleries are also sanitised regularly to prevent any germs.

Many people also claiming that cash transaction will soon become obsolete, as it considered as unhygienic and one of the ways the virus can be transmitted. Contactless payment has been the way to go. New statistics in Australia showed that more than 1.8 billion payments were made through EFTPOS transaction. These numbers are expected to grow more and more throughout the years.

These are a few examples of how various businesses transform themselves from a traditional model to a more contemporary way to survive. Aside from traditional business, we can see more and more new types of businesses rises. Most of the online and e-commerce businesses that are quite new compared to these traditional business tops them in most levels.

As you may know that Netflix is one of the most popular movie streaming services. To add their popularity, it has a record amount of subscribers in Q1 2020, with 15.8 million subscribers. This even doubles the number of expected subscribers, which is 7 million subscribers. Obviously it was helped by the pandemic itself that requires people to stay home. With the temporary closure of cinemas, online streaming platforms have been the primary option for people to entertain themselves.

The projected growth of streaming subscription throughout 2021. Photo by Trefis Team on Forbes

Not only Netflix, but Twitch also experienced a massive gain too. This gaming streaming service has an increase of viewership of 66% since the first week of February 2020 (Which is most of the quarantine period started). It was significantly helped by the world of gaming, eSports and new content creators from home.

There are more successful businesses that we can think of. Online schooling, webinar and remote consultation are some examples that also skyrocketing at the moment. Most people will eventually get used and comfortable with the way it is.

With the future remains a mystery, we are expected to be able to adapt in this “New Normal” scenario, no matter if is it a business-related or in your personal life. Soon or later it will be part of our routine and habit that change the world forever.

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